WATERLOO - The pleas of a dozen employees and a petition signed
by more than 500 people wasn't enough to save the jobs of Hawkeye
Community College's custodial and maintenance staff Tuesday.

The Board of Trustees voted 9-0 to approve a five-year agreement
with FBG Services Corp. beginning July 1. A total of 23 full-time
and four part-time employees will be laid off, although they can
apply for positions with the Omaha, Neb.-based company. The
contract's first-year cost is $1.03 million with a five-year total
of $5.17 million.

"We'll be able to lock in costs for the next five years," said
Galen Howsare, vice president of administration and finance. "And
we've estimated those savings at $1.5 to $2 million." The college
must cut $1.8 million expected to be slashed from its state funding
for 2009-10.

Some in the audience held hand-lettered signs protesting the
proposal, and Dorthea Pates, president of the union representing
the workers, delivered the petitions to the board.

Roger Holeman told trustees his maintenance job "cannot be done
by some minimum- wage worker off the street. … If you vote for this
proposal, you are rubber-stamping the elitist view of money that
this administration seems to have."

"I've given the college 25 years of my life to be kicked to the
curb for someone who will work for $7.25 an hour," added
maintenance worker Shawn Keefe.

"Believe me, we heard what you said," noted board Chairman Mark
Birdnow. "I would like to say that we don't like this any more than
you. We, as a board, have not discussed this issue before tonight.
Please don't think we're a rubber-stamp board. We're not."

Howsare noted that FBG will pay more than both the minimum wage
and the area's median wage for those jobs, although some Hawkeye
workers would see a pay cut if the company hired them. FBG's
starting custodial wage is $10 per hour compared with the median of
$9.15. Its starting maintenance wage is $12 per hour compared with
the median of $10.64.

Hawkeye faculty members, who are facing their own layoffs as
part of the cost-cutting, spoke up for the staff.

"Outsourcing is not the answer," said Associate Professor Peg
Erdman. "We need to be more creative as we look for ways to save
money on this campus, but we don't need to throw away employees who
have been loyal to Hawkeye."

Professor Sally Browne noted the irony of outsourcing the
positions. "This college has emphasized its role in creating jobs,"
she said. "That it looks like we're going to violate something that
community colleges have stood for for years is of concern."

In related budget-cutting, trustees approved a freeze in 2009-10
salaries and benefits for the colleges 132 full-time non-bargaining
employees. It also approved a 2009-10 contract with United
Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America Local 855
maintaining the current wage schedule but allowing longevity
increases.